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| Antidote is the cure for wine lover's craving. (Image: Antidote.) |
How relaxed
can a wine bar possibly be? In Antidote’s case: very. When, on top of this, us
two ladies were served with astonishing helpfulness, we left the bar grinning.
Let me tell you how it all went down.
Antidote. Late
Saturday night. The place is packed, the waiters are practically running. But
let’s stop here for a while. l’ll brief you the background: at this point I’m
very familiar with Copenhagen’s wine bar king Kenn Husted’s places. I’ve visited
his attractive wine bars many, many times. The wine list is fairly uniform from
place to place, and even though there is a lot to choose from, I, as an
efficient customer, have already tasted several of the wines. OK. Let's get back
to Antidote, and to the moment of placing our orders. I tell the friendly
waiter that I’d like to have a glass of red wine, and I’d like it to be
something I haven’t tasted before. And that just now I long for a red that has
plenty of fruit, but also tannin and acid to at least medium level. (I’m being
a very easy customer…) He suggests a number of wines, but alas, I’ve tasted all
of them before. He admits that there’s a challenge. Challenge accepted!
And so he
starts bouncing back and forth between the bar and our table, bringing a new bottle
after another. The first wine doesn’t have enough acid. Second: not enough
fruit. Third: not enough tannin. Finally, the fourth wine ticks every box. (It
is Maquinon Garnacha.) A glass of this wine, please! Yes, this all actually
happened, just to find me a single glass of the right wine. And no, he
didn’t know that I write a wine blog.
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| Maquinon Garnacha 2013. |
The man
behind Antidote is Kenn Husted, a wine importer, wine bar entrepreneur and wine
merchant. He says his wine bars are unique due to the unique level of service.
Anyone, Husted claims, can put together a decent wine list and a decent menu, but
impeccable service is a different story. Although I often find even the wine
list and the menu to be a tough challenge, I will have to concur with Husted,
when he says his aim is that the clients leave his bars surprised by the
quality of service they received. Bull’s-eye. At Antidote Husted’s service
standard is living reality.
Amongst
Husted’s wine bars, Antidote’s mission is to me the medicine against ”stresses
of everyday life, Danish weather, anonymous wines, bland food and
not-so-present service” (freestyle transl. from Danish by me). Aptly, it is
located on a very hipster street Jægersborggade, in the multicultural neighbourhood of Nørrebro. Husted and his team
personally search everything that is on offer from wines to sausages out. They
travel constantly to find new delicacies and premium wine producers with craftsmanship
and passion. Antidote’s wines have one thing in common: they all tell a story.
All of
Husted’s wine bars have a different menu. Antidote’s dishes are
french-spanish-american with a comfort food twist. You can order a bunch of
tapas to share with your friend, or a single larger dish. The wine list is
extensive. Or how about around 30 wines by the glass and 23 pages long list for
bottles of wine? Here you can find everything from legendary old world
producers like Borgogno from Barolo to rock stars of the new world wine, like
Charles Smith from Washington State. Whatever is hitting the charge just now or
is the next big thing in the world of wine, Antidote is the cure for your
craving.
Coordinates:
Antidote Vinbar
Jægersborggade
56
2200
Kööpenhamina (Nørrebro)
info@antidotevinbar.dk
+45 3811
3030
***
Antidote’s
wine list includes these Divine Wine reviewed wines:
